22.5% growth in foreign tourist arrivals in June 2017 over June 2016

India witnessed 22.5 per cent growth in foreign tourist arrival (FTA) in June 2017 over June 2016, an official statement said on Tuesday.

"The number of FTAs in June 2017 were 6.70 lakh as compared to FTAs of 5.47 lakh in June 2016 and 5.12 lakh in June 2015.

"The growth rate in FTAs in June, 2017 over June, 2016 is 22.5 per cent compared to 6.8 per cent in June, 2016 over June, 2015," said the Tourism Ministry statement.

The Tourism Ministry compiles monthly estimates of FTAs and FTAs on e-tourist visa on the basis of nationality-wise and port-wise data received from Bureau of Immigration.

"FTAs during the period January-June 2017 were 48.85 lakh with a growth of 17.2 per cent as compared to the FTAs of 41.69 lakh with a growth of 8.4 per cent in January- June 2016 over January- June 2015," the statement added.

The percentage share of FTAs in India during June 2017 among the top 15 source countries was highest from Bangladesh (29.23 per cent) followed by US (19.70 per cent), Britain (6.14 per cent), Malaysia (3.82 per cent), Australia (2.56 per cent) and China (2.52 per cent).

The statement also said that 81.7 per cent growth was registered in foreign tourist arrivals on e-tourist visa in June, 2017 over June, 2016.

The percentage share of FTAs in India during June 2017 among the top 15 ports was highest at Delhi Airport (22.16 per cent) followed by Haridaspur Land Check Post (17.06 per cent), Mumbai Airport (14.98 per cent), Chennai Airport (9.06 per cent), Bengaluru Airport (6.72 per cent), Kolkata Airport (4.82 per cent).

--IANS

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